Steven Naismith is likely to be the next Scotland manager, talkSPORT has been told.
The 39-year-old has been part of Steve Clarke’s coaching set up with the national team.
Clarke resigned as Scotland boss immediately after they were knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages.
He had initially signed a contract extension before the tournament that was supposed to run until 2030.
Now, Scottish football journalist Paul Mitchell believes he will be replaced by Naismith.
Naismith played 51 times for Scotland and played for Rangers and Everton over a playing career that lasted more than 15 years.
Since retiring, he initially joined the Scotland national team coaching staff before being made Hearts manager.
He was sacked from that job in September 2024 with Hearts bottom of the Scottish Premiership with just one point from six games.
Speaking on Weekend Sports Breakfast, Mitchell said: “It’s likely going to be Steven Naismith and Steven’s been around the set up for a little while. He’s obviously got experience playing internationally. He was Hearts manager and that didn’t quite work out for him.
“Some might argue it’s an unambitious appointment just to appoint the guy who’s next in line.
But you’ve got to look around and see who potentially would it be.
“If this had been a couple of years down the line Derek McInnes’ name would have come in. David Moyes name always comes up but you know it’s the start of the season and he’s at Everton. So Stephen Naismith looks like the logical choice.
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“He’s been involved with the group. The group’s going to have to turn over. You know Scotland are going to have to change the squad slightly and he’s probably in the best place of anybody to do that at the moment.”
Scotland’s issues
Mitchell also pointed out the challenges with this job given that there are so few young Scottish players coming through at top clubs.
He added: “Steven’s got a good pedigree. He’s played international football. He knows all about it. He’s got a very nice easygoing manner but he’s also got that steel that’s required to be in a big job like this.
“So I think it’s interesting because I think this is going to be an interesting point for Scottish football.
“There’s a big summit coming up that the SFA have called to talk about grassroots football and why there’s so few young Scottish players getting a chance at the big clubs.
“Now you could have done that 10 years ago. You could have done that 20 years ago. You could have done it 25 years ago. Nothing new under the sun.
“So either Scotland are going to embrace big change or this is just going to be another meeting of folk getting together and nobody will bother in the end.”
Scotland are next back in action in September with a Nations League clash with Slovenia.
They will also play Switzerland, North Macedonia and Slovenia (again) during the extended international break.
